Holiday Parcels 

Hundreds of parcels mailed to Okanagan service men and women overseas were provided by numerous community groups such as the Peachland Comforts’ Club. Contents included a cake, tobacco and cigarette papers, a tin of fish, a chocolate bar, packs of gum, soup, biscuits, cocoa, along with shoelaces and shoe polish. Twenty-six parcels, worth about $2.30 each, were sent to Peachland serving members in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, Aden, and England.1  

Oliver Chronicle and Osoyoos Observer Dec 20, 1944, pg. 8 BCRDH2 

Newspaper clippings from the Penticton Herald January 6, 1944, conveyed grateful greetings from recipients of some of the 400 parcels sent out to Penticton serving members before Christmas 1943. Some are in training camps, active service theatres or in Prisoner of War camps. Comments include:   

“We in the service live for letters and parcels from home.” J.W. Campbell   

“The Comforts’ Club will not be forgotten by us.” Sapper B.A. Shaw   

“How did you pick so many things we need? The picture of the old hometown makes one homesick.” L/Cpl J.A. Lowndes 

Another clipping from January 27, 1944, lists many more kudos for the Comforts’ Club parcels. 

[Penticton Herald Jan 27, 1944, pgs. 4, 10, BCRDH]3 

Sapper William Bailey says, “Parcel came ok. Very well packed and everything useful. Will toast Penticton tonight in a can of soup.” Callum Thompson notes, “It is always good to know that the hometown remember the boys scattered in the far places today.” Leading Seaman W. Brown writes, “Mail is all we have to look forward to out here. A parcel such as yours cheers us up.” Finally, Sergeant R.A. McBeath says, “Thanks for the parcel. I liked the card best. That picture of Main Street took me back home for Christmas but gave me a very empty feeling. I’d like to stride down that good old Main Street to the lake I know is at the bottom. I could swim clear to Kelowna. I want to thank everyone. It must be a big job getting all those parcels off.”4  

The February 24, 1944 edition of the Penticton Herald noted that, “since the meeting of the Penticton Comforts’ Club on Monday night when the president, Mrs. E. Coates announced that no acknowledgements for parcels had yet been received from boys in Italy whose parcels had been sent to England and followed them over, word has been received from Mrs. P. Hayter from her son, Corporal C.E. Hayter, of the Ninth Armoured Regiment stationed in Italy. Cpl. Hayter wrote that his parcel arrived at his Italian base on January 26, one of five from England. He had spent Christmas day in Italy.”5 The 9th Canadian Armoured Regiment (British Columbia Dragoons), from the Okanagan, would go onto to fight through the Hitler Line on the Road to Rome later in 1944. [See the article Across the Melfa River to Rome and Breaching the Gothic Line Part 1 and 2]  

Kelowna Courier Dec. 23, 1944, pg. 5 BCRDH6 

In the Vernon News January 6, 1944, edition appeared the clipping ‘Namesake Sends Kelowna Greetings’ “Lieutenant Commander R. B. Campbell, RCNR, who has recently assumed command of H.M.C.S. Kelowna . . . has written the chairman of the local H.M.C.S. Kelowna Committee, expressing his appreciation of the support this community has given the men of the ship under his command. Excerpts from the letter follow: “Receipt of your letter dated December 2 gives me the opportunity to introduce myself as the new commanding officer of H.M.C.S. Kelowna. On behalf of the entire ship’s company. I thank you all for your many kindnesses and I can assure you that the men highly appreciate the comforts that you send. From Kelowna to Kelowna . . .  A Happy New Year!”4  

[Vernon News Jan 13, 1944, pg. 6, BCRDH]7 

Imagine getting this in the mail. “Mrs. John Bell of Rutland was the recipient on Tuesday of three letters and a postcard from persons in the United States who had heard a short-wave radio broadcast from Tokyo in which her son, Robert Lyle Grant, on the Winnipeg Grenadiers, a prisoner of war since the fall of Hong Kong, sent her a cheerful message. He stated that he was in fine health, the food satisfactory, and that they had all received Red Cross parcels for Christmas. He ended the message by saying that he hoped to see all his relatives in the near future.” The clipping was in the Vernon News Jan 13, 1944, edition. The sender was probably an amateur radio hobbyist listening to short-wave High Frequency transmissions that can be reflected or ‘skipped’ by the Ionosphere over great distances beyond the horizon. Government sponsored stations would broadcast propaganda programs, or news such as the BBC World Service, to international audiences.  

Happy Holidays 

References: 

1. Penticton Herald Feb 10, 1944, pg. 4, BCRDH https://bcrdh.ca/islandora/object/news%3A241049#page/4/mode/2up 

1. Oliver Chronicle Osoyoos Observer Dec 20, 1944, pg. 8 https://bcrdh.ca/islandora/object/news%3A421144#page/6/mode/2up 

1. Penticton Herald Jan 27, 1944, pgs. 4, 10, BCRDH https://bcrdh.ca/islandora/object/news%3A241029#page/4/mode/2up 

1. Penticton Herald Jan 6, 1944, pg. 4 https://bcrdh.ca/islandora/object/news%3A240998#page/4/mode/2up 

1. Penticton Herald Feb 24, 1944, pg. 11, BCRDH https://bcrdh.ca/islandora/object/news%3A241073#page/10/mode/2up 

1. Kelowna Courier Dec. 23, 1944, pg. 5 BCRDH https://bcrdh.ca/islandora/object/news%3A58530#page/4/mode/2up  

1. [Vernon News Jan 6, 1944, pg. 8, BCRDH] https://bcrdh.ca/islandora/object/news%3A91716#page/8/mode/2up